Marks & Spencer raised its dividend as boss Stuart Machin insisted a devastating cyber hack was a ‘bump in the road’ in its transformation.
Investors will be handed 3.6p a share for the 12 months to March 29 – a 20 per cent increase on the year before – after profits hit their highest level for a decade and a half.
The dividend boost, which The Mail on Sunday revealed was in the offing last weekend, comes despite the cyber attack denting the company’s profits this year by £300million as online shopping remains suspended.
Machin will stay on as chief executive to continue his turnaround of the retail giant even as he warned the disruption may last until July.
Blaming ‘human error’ for the attack at Easter, he said: ‘We’re only four-and-a-half weeks in since. Sometimes to us, it feels like four-and-a-half months.
‘But if I’m honest, in our multi-year journey, four-and-a-half weeks is a short period of time. And now we’re getting back to business.’
Hacked off: M&S chief exec Stuart Machin (pictured) blamed ‘human error’ for the cyberattack over Easter which has halted website and app orders
The update provided reassurance to investors, and shares were up 1.9 per cent, or 7.1p, at 374.7p, but are down 9 per cent since the computer systems were compromised.
After it was targeted by shadowy cyber criminals over Easter, M&S halted website and app orders while its food stocking systems were briefly thrown into chaos, leaving shelves empty.
The personal data of millions of customers, which could have included names, email addresses, postal addresses and dates of birth, was stolen.
Machin said: ‘We are now focused on recovery, with the aim of exiting this a much stronger business.
‘There is no change to our strategy and our longer-term plans to reshape M&S for growth and, if anything, the incident allows us to accelerate the pace of change as we draw a line and move on.
‘This incident is a bump in the road, and we will come out of this in better shape and continue our plan to reshape M&S for customers, colleagues and shareholders.’
Machin hoped online shopping would resume ‘in a matter of weeks’ but warned it could take until July.
The comments came as the group wowed the City with a better-than-expected 22 per cent rise in profits to £875.5million for the year to March 29, its best performance for more than 15 years, as food sales jumped 8.7 per cent while the fashion and homeware arm climbed 3.5 per cent.
Customer favourites included bakery cookies, which went viral on TikTok with more than 25m views, and Sienna Miller’s fashion ranges.
Total sales grew 6 per cent to £13.8billion as the turnaround continued to gain momentum.
Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘The bigger picture needs to be kept in mind. The cyber attack is likely a one-off and the underlying business is performing well.
‘M&S is gaining market share, improving profitability and the balance sheet is in great shape.’
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